January 28, 2007

Jane Fonda Resurfaces

I understand that Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Danny Glover spoke at the Saturday anti-war protest on the National Mall. What with Jesse Jackson and Rep. Dennis Kucinich also addressing the crowd, the nation is now armed with the most sensitive ethical arguments against our involvement in Iraq. But let's face it. The piece de resistance in this preachy cohort was Jane Fonda. (Long ago, during the Vietnam War, she once came to our house in that unforgettable slithery outfit she wore in Klute.) Her appearance should be a moral crisis for all who are against the war. After all, when the great balladeer Joan Baez, no less an anti-Vietnam war crusader than Jane, tried to assemble a group of comrades to protest North Vietnam's bloodbath in the South, Fonda refused and refused on the principle of solidarity with the killers. She has stood with other ethically contemptible causes. And now--surprise--she is a born-again Christian. Why doesn't Jane just retire from the business of giving the American people moral advice? She could live on the millions in royalties from her 23 exercise videos and God only knows how much Ted Turner gave her in alimony.